ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, CMC – Opposition Leader Dr Keith Mitchell and other legislators have accused the Creative Director of the National Organising Committee (NOC) at the 50th Independence Secretariat, Orlando Romain, of spreading misleading information about the main opposition party.
Romain, also the Public Relations Officer for the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), speaking during a news conference, said all Members of Parliament, including members of the opposition, received EC$10,000 for beautifying their constituencies.
When asked if such funding was allocated under the budget, Romain said, “The answer is yes, each constituency/rep/MP would have been assigning a budget so that particular constituency can do the essential things such as clean-ups, decorations in preparations for the activities of the celebration…To the best of my knowledge, that was distributed to everybody, all MPs,” he said while promising to research the claim made by the opposition members that they did not receive the funds.
“I will have to research to see if their claim is true,” he promised.
However, the opposition once again denied that members received the funds.
In a news release late Friday, the opposition described Romain’s statement as a blatant attempt to mislead the nation and called upon him to promptly correct this misinformation with accurate details.
“Members of His Majesty’s Opposition are calling on Mr. Orlando Romain, Advisor to the Government and Creative Director of the National Organizing Committee, to confirm publicly that Opposition MP did not receive ten thousand dollars from the National Organizing Committee.”
The statement also said, “Grenadians deserve transparency and honesty, not deceitful tactics aimed at obscuring the truth.”
In a news conference called by Opposition members earlier in the week, the five elected members in the Lower House of Parliament refuted claims that they received EC$10,000 from the government to assist with constituency activities for the 50th independence celebrations.
“We have other people who sit within the cabinet of Grenada who are sending people to our offices saying to them that we would have received EC$10,000 in support of activities for Independence. Let me make it abundantly clear none of our members here would have received any money from the government up to this point regarding independence celebration,” said Emmalin Pierre, the Member of Parliament for St Andrew Southeast.
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